Cardiff Bay
by Solsbury Girl
Summary: An increasingly tense moment in the Hub shared by Jack, Ianto and Owen.


**Cardiff Bay**

It is his pride and his joy. It is new, shiny, expensive, and it is a surprisingly flashy bright red. He's never treated himself to anything like it before. And probably never will again. Not on his salary.

* * *

Jack walks around it in the car park, nodding approvingly, noticing the sleek low lines. This is clearly shown on the CCTV when Ianto insists on replaying the footage later that afternoon.

* * *

"I had no idea it was raining so hard" says Owen, when Jack re-enters the Hub an hour later, dripping wet.

"It isn't," says Jack, shrugging out of his greatcoat.

Ianto materialises and takes the coat, hanging it meticulously and brushing the nestling drops of water from the fabric.

"If it isn't raining," asks Owen, reasonably "why are you wet?"

"Cardiff Bay," says Jack, as if that explains everything.

"Cardiff Bay, sir?" questions Ianto.

"Mmmm," affirms Jack. "Cardiff Bay."

"Cardiff Bay," repeats Owen. "And where is the weevil you were chasing?"

"Cardiff Bay," says Jack, unsurprisingly.

"Cardiff Bay." Owen nods in acceptance. Jack is wet, the weevil is in Cardiff Bay. Tidy. It makes perfect sense to Owen.

"Jack?" asks Ianto, breaking the cycle of identical utterances as he flips through the CCTV footage. "Why is the weevil in Cardiff Bay?"

Jack tries to sidle towards the door, but realises that his exit is blocked by Ianto, deliberately, and by Owen who just happens to be in the way accidentally, as he so often is.

Ianto repeats himself, not for the first time in their relationship. "Jack. Why is the weevil in Cardiff Bay?"

"That's where the chase ended." offers Jack. Matter of fact. Subject closed.

Ianto thinks of the consequence for the clean up operation he will have to arrange. He knows that weevils cannot swim. He also knows that decomposing weevils are no good for the indigenous population of Cardiff Bay, or for the nearby wetlands area.

"Oh well," he sighs. "Best get on with it then." He holds his hand out towards Jack.

Jack tries again to make it to the door.

"Jack, just give me my keys, and the sooner I start on cleaning up this fiasco, the sooner I'll be finished." He smiles at Jack and brushes his lips against Jack's cheek, an indication of what Jack can expect once the clean up is finished. To his surprise, given that Owen is still in the room, Jack grabs him and kisses him passionately, with a breathtaking demand that leaves Ianto sagging against the boardroom table, wishing he didn't have to spend the next couple of hours working and at least the next ten minutes limping until his desire subsided.

"What was that for?" he gasps.

"Well," says Jack, "You are going to be working hard for a while, and I don't suppose you'll have much time for me afterwards."

"Jack," Ianto leans in for another kiss. "I will always have time for you. You should know that by now."

Owen is clearly torn between watching the scene play out in the direction he suspects it is about to take, or creeping quietly away while the going is good.

"Now," Ianto holds his hand out again. "Just give me my car keys and I'll get this sorted."

Owen has to admire the way that Jack holds Ianto's gaze. "I don't have your keys." he replies.

Ianto moves towards the greatcoat and is about to go into the pockets.

"They aren't there either." says Jack.

Ianto looks perplexed. "Where are they then?" he asks.

Jack loses his nerve at the last moment and exchanges a glance with Owen. He looks with supplication at the team doctor, who nods his understanding and, surprisingly, his complicity.

"Ianto, come here." says Owen. "Sit down. I need you to sit down." He places his hands on Ianto's shoulders and gently eases him into a seat.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Ianto is almost beside himself. In ten seconds more, he will be totally beside himself. "Jack, just give me my keys!"

"I can't. I don't have them." Jack is almost out of the door now.

Ianto's perplexed frown turns to a glare. Owen is glad he is standing behind the powerful Welshman, not in front of him. The glare fixes on Jack. "If you don't have them, Jack, where the hell are they?" Ianto demands, his voice an octave lower than normal and full of barely disguised menace.

Jack hopes that Owen's hands on Ianto's shoulders will keep the young man in place for a second or two. "They are in your new car."

"And where, exactly, is my new car?" asks Ianto, with a disarming lightness that causes Owen to press all the more firmly on his shoulders.

Jack answers truthfully as he starts to run: "Cardiff Bay."


End file.
